Electronic Skin Generates its Own Power

 A useful play. 

Solar-based Electronic Skin Generates Its Own Power 

IEEE Spectrum Payal Dhar December 13, 2020 

 Researchers from the U.K.'s University of Glasgow have created an energy-generating electronic skin (eSkin) from miniaturized solar cells that can deliver tactile perceptions for touch and proximity sensing without the use of dedicated touch sensors. The eSkin's solar cells produce energy in response to light; in proximity mode, light intensity indicates an object's distance from a cell, with infrared LEDs incorporated to improve proximity sensing. Proof-of-concept tests with an eSkin-wrapped three-dimensionally-printed robotic hand found an energy surplus of 383.3 milliwatts generated from the palm of the robotic arm. Glasgow's Ra    ... 

Sweat and Electronic Skin

More sensor examples and sources of data for monitoring and analysis.

Electronic Skin Powered by Sweat Can Monitor Health, Serve as Human-Machine Interface
Caltech News

By Emily Velasco
April 22, 2020

California Institute of Technology (Caltech)'s Wei Gao has developed a perspiration-powered electronic skin (e-skin) that can be applied directly to human skin, with embedded sensors to monitor the wearer’s vital signs. The e-skin's built-in biofuel cells absorb lactate from the wearer's sweat, which combines with air to generate water, pyruvate, and electricity, powering the sensors and a Bluetooth device. This enables the e-skin to wirelessly broadcast sensor readings, and the biofuel cells can produce continuous, stable power output over multiple days. Gao said the goal is to create diverse sensors that can be embedded in the e-skin for multiple functions. He said, "This can be a human–machine interface. The vital signs and molecular information collected using this platform could be used to design and optimize next-generation prosthetics."

Breathable Electronics

Advances in functional wearable tech from NC State

'Breathable' Electronics Pave the Way for More Functional Wearable Tech
NC State News
April 30, 2020

Engineering researchers at North Carolina State University (NC State) have invented an ultrathin, stretchable electronic material that "breathes" because it is gas-permeable, which may lead to more functional wearable technologies. NC State's Yong Zhu said the breath figure method for fabricating the material enables easy scaling-up. The technique involves coating an evenly perforated polymer film with a solution of silver nanowires, which are sealed in place through heat-pressing; the film combines electric conductivity, optical transmittance, water-vapor permeability, and stability when exposed to sweat and long-term wear. Former NC State researcher Shanshan Yao said the micrometers-thick electronics enhance the signal-to-noise ratio through better skin contact, while their gas permeability avoids irritation. The researchers demonstrated use cases with prototypes, including skin-mountable dry electrodes used as electrophysiologic sensors, and textile-integrated touch sensing for human-machine interfaces. ... "

Seeking Stretchy Electronics

More on skin friendly electronics solutions.

Engineers mix and match materials to make new stretchy electronics
Next-generation devices made with new “peel and stack” method may include electronic chips worn on the skin.

Watch Video

Jennifer Chu | MIT News Office

At the heart of any electronic device is a cold, hard computer chip, covered in a miniature city of transistors and other semiconducting elements. Because computer chips are rigid, the electronic devices that they power, such as our smartphones, laptops, watches, and televisions, are similarly inflexible.

Now a process developed by MIT engineers may be the key to manufacturing flexible electronics with multiple functionalities in a cost-effective way.

The process is called  “remote epitaxy” and involves growing thin films of semiconducting material on a large, thick wafer of the same material, which is covered in an intermediate layer of graphene. Once the researchers grow a semiconducting film, they can peel it away from the graphene-covered wafer and then reuse the wafer, which itself can be expensive depending on the type of material it’s made from. In this way, the team can copy and peel away any number of thin, flexible semiconducting films, using the same underlying wafer.  .... "

Electronic Skin

 Note the long history of this kind of effort.

Integrate Microchips for Electronic Skin
Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research (Germany)
January 22, 2020

German and Japanese researchers have developed an active-matrix magnetic sensor system in a step toward the creation of electronic skin. The system is comprised of a series of magnetic sensors, an organic bootstrap shift register as a control mechanism, and organic signal amplifiers. All the electronic elements are based on organic thin-film transistors and integrated within a single platform; the device exhibits high magnetic sensitivity and resilience against mechanical deformation, and can facilitate two-dimensional magnetic field distribution in real time. Said researchers Oliver G. Schmidt and Daniil Karnaushenko, "[The] ultra-compliant and flexible nature of these devices is [an] indispensable feature for modern and future applications such as soft-robotics, implants, and prosthetics.”

Artificial Skin and Augmented Reality

Links between skin and augmented reality of interest

Artificial Skin Could Help Rehabilitation, Enhance Virtual Reality
Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
Laure-Anne Pessina

Researchers at Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland have developed a soft, flexible artificial skin, made of silicone and electrodes and equipped with soft sensors and actuators, which provides haptic feedback in the form of pressure and vibration. Strain sensors continuously measure the skin's deformation so that the haptic feedback can be adjusted to produce a realistic sense of touch. The actuators help form a membrane layer and can be tuned to varying pressures and frequencies. On top of the membrane layer sits a sensor that contains soft electrodes that measure the skin's deformation continuously and send the data to a microcontroller, which uses the feedback to fine-tune the sensation transmitted to the user. For now, the scientists have tested the technology on users' fingers. The next step, said EPFL's Harshal Sonar, "will be to develop a fully wearable prototype for applications in rehabilitation and virtual and augmented reality."

Electronic Skins as Health Sensors

More novel health sensors.

Electronic skin can display a heartbeat on your hand 
You'd know someone's health just by looking at them.

By Jon Fingas, @jonfingas in Engadget.

Electronic skins might not only detect health troubles in the near future, but display them for the world to see. University of Tokyo researchers have developed an e-skin that can measure vital signs like your heartbeat and display them in real time on a skin display. The design blends a breathable nanomesh electrode and stretchable wiring with an array of micro LEDs that can output basic images bending with your body. Others know right away if you need help -- they'd just have to look at your hand (or anywhere else the sensor works) to get an idea of what's wrong. The sensor can pair with a smartphone and transmit its info to the cloud, too. ...   Dai Nippon Printing

(Update)   More in Digital Trends.